1) "This is a God of War / Devil May Cry rip-off"
No, it's not, it's much more than that. It certainly does initially appear to be a blatant God of War rip-off, particularly if you played that horrible demo. But if you try to play it like God of War, you're dead. You absolutely must block / dodge to survive the combat (in fact, there are a list of moves related to block and dodge that you can obtain that make the combat easier), even with a group of regular enemies. It's particularly important when you start getting the slightly stronger enemies. And that's not even counting the Shadow of the Colossus-like boss battles (like the one at the end of the second world; it was awesome).
The game is actually set up like a cross between Super Mario Bros 3, Castlevania 3, and Symphony of the Night. There are 12 "worlds" with about 5-10 levels in each world. It is completely linear in that you go from one level to the next in order, finish the world, then go to the next world. Each level is similar to a God of War level in that it's mainly linear with some exploration. Except, unlike God of War, there are a lot of extra parts or items which you cannot reach until you get certain skills and come back. You have your Gorgon Eyes (health) / Phoenix Feather (magic) upgradable things to collect but there's also some gems and weapon upgrades as well as level-specific challenges (ie. beat this level without healing) in order to get 100% (on top of having to beat it on the top difficulty level). And you earn experience points which you can use to learn new skills or magic. You can choose what you learn so you can tailor Gabriel's (yes, he's a Belmont) skill set to your playing style. So it bring some RPG-like elements in like Symphony did, but more about the character's skill set as opposed to the drops from the enemies.
The voice acting (Patrick Stewart narrates and is a main secondary character, Robert Carlyle is Gabriel) and storyline (lot of cutscenes to flush it out), at least for the three or so hours, are excellent, as are the graphics. I would say on par with God of War 3 in all categories.
2) "This is another horrible 3D Castlevania"
The only people who say that are a) people who only played Castlevania 64 and nothing else, b) people who haven't played this one at all or just played the fucking horrible demo, or c) 3D Castlevania bashers. This game is far different and much better than any previous 3D Castlevania before it. Don't compare it to any of the N64 or PS2/Xbox ones
3) "This isn't a Metroidvania game, therefore it sucks"
No, it would suck if all we got were Metroidvania games. Don't get me wrong, I luvs my Metroidvania games, they're great (particularly Aria of Sorrow, that was the best one). But it would be so nice to get a proper 3D Castlevania. Remember when Castlevania 64 was announced and a lot of people were actually excited to see what it would look like in 3D and about the possibilities with the extra dimension? Well, you've finally gotten your great 3D Castlevania game. It's been a long time coming and you've had to wade through a lot of shitty games (and 15 years) but we're finally there.
In short, if you've always wanted a good 3D Castlevania game you've got it. It's up to you if you care anymore. If you have no opinion of Castlevania, this is a pretty solid 3D action game with a great story, excellent graphics and voice acting, and some RPG elements and extra stuff to go back and do to add depth and replayability on top of it's length (an easy 20+ hours for first-time play through without backtracking). As good as any 3D action game I've played in a while.
No, it's not, it's much more than that. It certainly does initially appear to be a blatant God of War rip-off, particularly if you played that horrible demo. But if you try to play it like God of War, you're dead. You absolutely must block / dodge to survive the combat (in fact, there are a list of moves related to block and dodge that you can obtain that make the combat easier), even with a group of regular enemies. It's particularly important when you start getting the slightly stronger enemies. And that's not even counting the Shadow of the Colossus-like boss battles (like the one at the end of the second world; it was awesome).
The game is actually set up like a cross between Super Mario Bros 3, Castlevania 3, and Symphony of the Night. There are 12 "worlds" with about 5-10 levels in each world. It is completely linear in that you go from one level to the next in order, finish the world, then go to the next world. Each level is similar to a God of War level in that it's mainly linear with some exploration. Except, unlike God of War, there are a lot of extra parts or items which you cannot reach until you get certain skills and come back. You have your Gorgon Eyes (health) / Phoenix Feather (magic) upgradable things to collect but there's also some gems and weapon upgrades as well as level-specific challenges (ie. beat this level without healing) in order to get 100% (on top of having to beat it on the top difficulty level). And you earn experience points which you can use to learn new skills or magic. You can choose what you learn so you can tailor Gabriel's (yes, he's a Belmont) skill set to your playing style. So it bring some RPG-like elements in like Symphony did, but more about the character's skill set as opposed to the drops from the enemies.
The voice acting (Patrick Stewart narrates and is a main secondary character, Robert Carlyle is Gabriel) and storyline (lot of cutscenes to flush it out), at least for the three or so hours, are excellent, as are the graphics. I would say on par with God of War 3 in all categories.
2) "This is another horrible 3D Castlevania"
The only people who say that are a) people who only played Castlevania 64 and nothing else, b) people who haven't played this one at all or just played the fucking horrible demo, or c) 3D Castlevania bashers. This game is far different and much better than any previous 3D Castlevania before it. Don't compare it to any of the N64 or PS2/Xbox ones
3) "This isn't a Metroidvania game, therefore it sucks"
No, it would suck if all we got were Metroidvania games. Don't get me wrong, I luvs my Metroidvania games, they're great (particularly Aria of Sorrow, that was the best one). But it would be so nice to get a proper 3D Castlevania. Remember when Castlevania 64 was announced and a lot of people were actually excited to see what it would look like in 3D and about the possibilities with the extra dimension? Well, you've finally gotten your great 3D Castlevania game. It's been a long time coming and you've had to wade through a lot of shitty games (and 15 years) but we're finally there.
In short, if you've always wanted a good 3D Castlevania game you've got it. It's up to you if you care anymore. If you have no opinion of Castlevania, this is a pretty solid 3D action game with a great story, excellent graphics and voice acting, and some RPG elements and extra stuff to go back and do to add depth and replayability on top of it's length (an easy 20+ hours for first-time play through without backtracking). As good as any 3D action game I've played in a while.
I was there on that fateful day, were you?
